


The Lost Apprentice

by MS_Christie



Series: The Legend of Hana [2]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Amnesia, Demons, F/M, Friendship, Love, Manga & Anime, Reincarnation, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:21:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27693352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MS_Christie/pseuds/MS_Christie
Summary: She once taught him how to wield a sword. Centuries later, he finds her reincarnation and decides to return the favour.
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/InuYasha, Miroku/Sango (InuYasha), Sesshoumaru (InuYasha)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Legend of Hana [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2025301
Comments: 21
Kudos: 52





	1. 花の絵

༄

Unedited

She stood alone in the park, humming absently as she carefully made thin elegant brush strokes across blank canvas. Dipping her brush into her palette, she mixed the vibrant green and tinged it with white, effectively brightening the colour. Blooming in front of her were several magnificent white gardenias. She liked painting flowers and other things like them. She longed to capture the most transitory things in her paintings to immortalize them.

Nothing lasts forever so we must cherish the world's beauty while we can.

A sudden harsh wind swept through the park, violently tearing through the gardenias as white petals scattered in the breeze.

Several of her paintbrushes clattered to the ground but she paid them no mind.

She could only stare at the remains of the flowers when all that remained were the stems. Then, she looked back at her incomplete painting with a frown, her heterochromic eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

Behind her, she heart the faintest whisper saying:

I love you.

But no one was there when she spun around for it was the wind who carried those three words from somewhere far, far away.

Something stirred in her heart...

She wondered why.

༄

"Made it..." Kagome let out a long and tired sigh as she climbed out of the well, her large backpack falling to the ground with a heavy thud.

Emerging from the shed, she glanced up at the sea of stars in the sky and smiled. Be it past or future, the stars were always the same.

Ah, I can't wait for a nice relaxing bubble bath.

Eagerly, she marched to her house, pausing to stare at the odd and clumsily made flower reef hanging on the front door before opening it with a cheerful smile. Carelessly, the reef fell onto the ground as she shut the door behind her, flower petals scattering onto the ground only to be blown away into the night sky.

"Kaa-chan! Sota-chan! Ojii-chan! I'm home!" Kagome announced happily.

"Kagome!" Her family exclaimed respectively from behind a large pile of flowers, "Welcome back!"

A tall wall of vibrantly coloured blossoms separated her from her family. Hundreds of flowers lay stacked on top of each other to form a small mountain. More flowers lay scattered across the floor and on the tables, over drawers and in between books, spilling out everywhere.

She blinked, "Eh?"

Rubbing her eyes at the peculiar sight, she checked again and pinched her cheeks to verify whether or not she were dreaming.

"What's with all the flowers?" Kagome inquired in confusion upon realizing that this was not a dream.

"We're practicing our flower arrangements," Sota explained as he finished braiding a trio of zinnias and violets, "Ojii-san has a friend coming over tomorrow whose granddaughter is an artist and they wanted lots of flowers."

"Yes, that's right." Her grandfather nodded, "My old friend is a florist and she's coming to visit with her granddaughter. We're going to surprise her with a congratulatory party!"

"A congratulatory party?" Kagome repeated, "For what?"

"She just finished art school at the top of her class." Kagome's mother informed her with a smile, "She's a few years older than you and used to go to your high school."

"And she's guest speaking at your high school tomorrow!" Grandfather added with a large grin.

"Guess I made it back at a good time." Kagome remarked to herself, her eyes trailing down towards the bouquet of purple bellflowers.

Her smile became somewhat strained.

Inuyasha...

༄

The florist hummed to herself as the rays of the morning sun trickled through the windows, refracting through a vase and passing through the leaves of a plant like stained glass. 

The florist was a graceful, elderly lady with long hair silvered with time. Her pale locks glistened underneath the sun and her eyes crinkled perfectly when she smiled. It was plain to see that she was once a very beautiful woman and that even after so many years, her beauty remained.

Though it was a different kind of beauty.

A beauty accumulated over time.

A tragic kind.

"Hanakotoba is a dying art." The  
florist's willowy voice told her granddaughter softly as she set down a vase of anemones and bluebells. "No one learns it these days even though it's an important part of culture. You should practice your ikebana more, Hana-chan. You're good at it. It's an elegant language... a language beyond words. Just like your art."

"Yes, obaa-chan," Hana hummed obediently as she pinned her hair up, glancing at the clock hanging from the wall.

I should get going now...

Hana kissed her grandmother on the forehead. "Mwah. I have an art workshop at my old high school today but I'll be back right after. I can pick something up for dinner on the way."

"Don't worry about dinner." Obaa-chan assured her. "We're visiting a friend tonight. He's a nice fellow, I think you'll like him and his grandchildren."

"Alright," Hana nodded, committing her grandmother's words to memory. "I'll be there. Bye, Obaa-chan!"

"Good luck, Hana-chan."

༄

"Have you seen her? Look!" Yuka hissed in a hushed whisper, "She graduated, like, three years ago and now she's come back as an absolute babe! Sex appeal, Kagome-chan! Kanto-kun called her the epitome of feminine perfection. Kanto-kun, who I thought liked men! Who would've thought from looking at her graduation pictures?!"

"Yuka-chan!" Ayumi scolded, "Stop that. She was cute in high school, too."

If you speak any louder and she'll definitely hear us! Kagome groaned, her cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. She's literally right there! And this is the granddaughter of Ojii-chan's friend!

"I never said she wasn't!" Yuka said defensively, "Only that one wouldn't be able to tell, especially with the way her bangs covered half of her face. Now she has this solemn, mature, feminine vibe going on."

"I heard that she has two different eye colours!" Eri added.

"It's called heterochromia." Hana commented nonchalantly, her high heels clicking as she smiled at the three sheepish high school students, striding towards them with elegance. She lowered her sunglasses to reveal a pair of mismatched eyes.

Her right eye was a dark grey reminiscent of a storm, and her left eye a chilling blue that reminded Kagome very much of a glacier.

Or maybe an ocean. She thought, feeling drawn to the beautiful pair. A deep blue ocean far, far, away.

"Beautiful." Kagome murmured to herself, then jolted at the staring of her current company.

She flushed.

Hana tilted her head curiously.

(Never before had she ever considered herself beautiful.)

"Your name?"

"Higurashi, ma'am." Kagome stammered. "Higurashi Kagome."

"Higurashi." Hana repeated thoughtfully. "I'll remember that."

The school bell rang.

"Excuse me." Hana said, nodding her head towards each girl before she strode away.

"So cool." Eri whispered as Hana vanished among a sea of students.

Yuka slung her arm over Kagome's shoulders.

"I'm straight, but I'd totally tap that."

Kagome flushed scarlet.

"Yuka-chan!"


	2. 口に出さない言葉

༄

Unedited

Hana shut her eyes, opening them to peer at her reflection in the mirror. With her eyes closed, she had the appearance of any other woman but with her eyes opened she became unique. She became too different. For all her childhood she had struggled to find confidence because of these eyes. She grew her hair and covered her face in shame to hide her differences.

And yet that girl had so easily said the words she desperately wanted to hear. Words that only her grandmother had told her before.

"Beautiful." She whispered to her mismatched eyes.

What a strange way fate worked.

Hana smiled, chuckling slightly. And with a newly revived confidence, she marched onstage into the auditorium.

The room filled with echoing applause.

"Arigato," she said into the microphone, her voice resounding over the crowd. "It is truly an honour to be back here with you."

Someone whistled.

"For those that don't know me or don't remember me, my name is Hana and I graduated from this high school almost four years ago." She continued smoothly, "Recently, I graduated from university at the top of my class and now I am here to share with you my passion for art. To do so, I will show you my most successful series of paintings named: Painted Flowers, Unspoken Words."

The crowd clapped.

Hana unveiled her first painting, one of a weeping lady wearing a black kimono, holding a vibrant red camellia in the rain. The flower was the only bright colour in this dark piece.

"Depicted here is a lady in black, holding a red camellia. The black of her kimono symbolizes her grief as the camellia voices the rest..."

From her seat, dozens of rows away from the stage, Kagome stared fixated at the woman's face, something twisting inside her at the sight of the lady's pained expression and internal agony.

She looks heartbroken. Like she's filled with such despair and suffering she just wants to scream but can't find the words.

"Once, hanakotoba was used commonly all across Japan. Hanakotoba being Japan's language of flowers, a way to communicate one's thoughts and feelings without words. Other countries have their own versions of the flower language as well. I spent three months travelling around the world learning about them."

A secret language of flowers...

"The red camellia means to be in love, or to be perishing with grace. In this case, it was both. About a year ago, I painted this lady after she discovered she was terminally ill. She had asked me to paint a message for her lover when she died so that he'd remember her."

Kagome could feel her eyes beginning to water at the tragic tale. Her heart aching in sympathy.

The auditorium was filled with solemness.

Hana paused, turning on her heel and approaching another painting hidden underneath a cloth. She uncovered it.

It was the same lady only this time she wore a white kimono. The lady lay on a white hospital bed, surrounded by purple bellflowers.

She looks serene. Sad, but peacefully resigned.

"Here, she wore white which is the colour most East-Asian cultures wear at funerals while lying in her hospital bed. She is surrounded by bellflowers which in certain cultures are commonly associated with death, gratitude and everlasting love."

Kikyo's name means bellflower...

Kagome bit her lip.

Onstage, Hana moved to the last painting, throwing away the covering to reveal a painting of gardenias.

An incomplete painting.

"This is a painting that I will never be able to finish." Hana said softly, "Gardenias symbolize a secret love in hanakotoba and can be used for confessions. I was commissioned to paint this for a young gentleman who wanted to convey his feelings to a young lady but could not find the words to express his love."

Hana shut her eyes.

"But like the gardenias used to paint this the young man, they both died before their goals were completed."

Silence reigned.

Hana broke the silence.

"I paint these flowers because of their mortality. I paint them for their meanings. I paint them so that I can immortalize them along with the feelings that they convey do that they will never be forgotten." Hana told her audience. "But... hanakotoba is a dying art and people are forgetting. They do not know the messages of the flowers they admire. They do not understand their significance..."

Kagome could not hear Hana's conclusion as pure horror filled her.

WHAT'S INUYASHA DOING HERE!?

"Thank you."

Deafening applause broke out.

"Sit, Inuyasha!" She hissed. The one called Inuyasha screamed as he slammed to the ground though the sound of his pained cries were drowned out by the audience's booming applause.

Kagome raised her fist menacingly.

I'm going to kill him!

༄

"Miyoko from the Photography club took these pictures." Yuka grinned as she slipped a couple photographs into Kagome's hand. "They're gorgeous, aren't they?"

Kagome looked down at the pictures of Hana and panicked.

"Yuka-chan!" She scolded.

"What? These photos are all about immortalizing the moment." Yuka whined, "plus, she's so pretty it would be a crime not to capture her sexiness! Her eyes are so exotic and the photos turned out so well."

"Tell Miyoko-san that she shouldn't take photos of a person without their permission." Kagome huffed, glancing around anxiously as though expecting Hana to leap out at any moment.

"I don't know... Miyoko-chan was pretty inspired. I think she's even starting a fan club."

"A what?"

"A fan club. Though, I think it'll mostly be made up of guys from Photography and Art. You thinking of joining?"

Kagome tensed as Inuyasha waved to her from behind her friend.

"Uh, I—-!" Kagome stammered before running away, "sureI'lljoingottogobye!"

Yuka blinked.

"Huh."

༄

"How many times to I have to tell you not to follow me to school!?"

"What's with all the fl—flo—-achoo!" Inuyasha sneezed.

"Ojii-san has a friend coming over tonight who's a florist." Kagome explained, momentarily forgetting her ire.

"Oh yeah?" Inuyasha scowled, nose wrinkling, "Well, it's pissing me off!"

"You'll just have to suck it up." Kagome huffed as she crossed her arms. "My family's been working so hard with all the flower decorating and I won't let you ruin it!"

"Like hell, you're not!" He growled, reaching for the flowers.

"SIT!"

"GYAA!"


	3. 時間を超えて

༄

Unedited

Hana packed her purse with the essentials—the essentials for spontaneous art, as she liked to call them. With everything happening in a blink of an eye, lasting for only a brief moment, it was good to always be prepared. And so she carried with her a sketchbook, sewing kit, stationary, various paintbrushes, a variety of paints and a camera.

A fond smile stretched across her face as she fingered the camera. It was a gift from a dear friend. It took snapshots of time, immortalizing moments when her memory couldn't.

Hana stared at the red gates before her and took a picture of the long stairway.

"Hana-chan?"

She put the camera away.

"Yes, Obaa-chan?" Hana answered as she tucked her bag beneath her arm.

"Are you going to paint the Higurashi shrine later?" 

Hana smiled secretively. "Maybe."

"I think it's a great idea if you do."

Hana hummed noncommittally as they ascended the many steps leading up. She paused in front of a magnificent tree growing in the courtyard of the shrine, her eyes glazing as her stare fixated upon it.

"Hana-chan?"

She did not answer.

She could not hear. The sounds of everything around her seemed to blur into silence as a vague vision flashed through her mind almost like something out of a dream. In this dream, she could see the hazy image of a woman in an oni mask wielding a pair of swords. 

Someone called her.

She reached for the masked woman who faded at her touch and dispersed into wind, slipping through her grasp like sand.

Her hand phased through the woman and landed on the trunk of the tree.

"The future will not give you answers of the past." A woman dressed as a priestess materialized behind her. She wore an arrowhead as a pendant around her neck and had an otherworldly air about her.

"Who are you?" Hana asked the strange woman who presented herself in the form of a priestess.

"I go by many names... Jidai-ju, Goshinboku, the Sacred Tree and the Tree of Ages."

"I don't understand." Hana said with furrowing brows. "What is this? What is going on?"

The woman smiled, and distantly Hana was reminded of Kagome. The woman looked like Kagome, though her eyes were very sad. Kagome had never had eyes like these.

"The answers your heart searches for cannot be found here but in your past. Until you find them, your heart will feel empty."

She slipped a piece of tree bark into Hana's palms.

"One day you will understand." The priestess with the arrowhead necklace said as the world began to fade. "One day you will thank me."

"I—-!"

"Do not lose this sacred bark or else you will never be able to return."

What?

What is she talking about?

"Farewell, Hanako of the Ginha."

I don't know who you're talking about!

And just like that, Hana woke from a dream.

"Hi...Higurashi-san?" She whispered in confusion as she lay across a futon.

"She's awake!" Kagome exclaimed in relief.

"Hana-chan! You scared me!" Her grandmother cried, "Don't do that again! Don't go where I cannot follow! I was so worried!"

"I'm... sorry Obaa-chan." Hana smiled weakly before turning to Kagome. "What happened?"

"You collapsed." She said with a look of concern, "Here. You dropped this."

Hana's eyes widened as Kagome slipped the piece of bark into her hands.

How can this be? Was it—-Was it not a dream?

"It's late." Kagome said suddenly as though remembering something. "Ojii-san said that you guys should stay the night."

"No, I—!" Hana attempted to stand as Kagome glanced behind her and paled.

"SIT—-I mean, please," the high school girl twitched awkwardly, "please sit and rest. It's really no problem."

Two loud thuds sounded nearby.

"What was that—?"

"NOTHING!" Kagome giggled nervously, "I'm sure it was nothing so I'll just, uh, actually it might've been something so I'll just go and check on it to make sure. You stay here and rest!"

Kagome practically flew out of the room.

"How kind." Hana remarked dryly.

Her grandmother chuckled, "indeed."

༄

"What are you doing?" Kagome hissed, snatching the camera out of his hands. "You can't just take people's possessions like that!"

"That woman had Kikyo's scent on her!"

"What?!" Kagome's eyes widened. "That's impossible! Kikyo isn't here! She can't even be in this time period..."

Inuyasha crossed his arms and began pacing. "It wasn't perfectly identical to Kikyo's scent. It was only really a faint trace of it. Like..."

He furrowed his brows, "like a ghost of a scent! But it was there."

"She couldn't have met Kikyo." Kagome shook her head in confusion. "So how?"

"I don't know." Inuyasha repeated, then growled, "But I'm going to find out."

Kagome could only frown.

"Don't get carried away." She huffed and waved the camera warningly.

"Yeah, yeah..."

༄

"Wake up." 

Hana's eyes shot open.

"Follow my voice..."

This voice is the same from that dream. Hana thought as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. Unconsciously, reaching for the tree bark the lady of the tree gave to her and grabbing her purse.

"Come..."

Quietly, Hana stood and pulled her coat on. She was still wearing her day clothes from earlier but alone they weren't enough for the cold chill outside. It was against her better judgement that she actually followed the voice into the darkness of night. Even she herself didn't know why. Perhaps it was curiosity, or maybe it was because of the emptiness of her heart that the priestess had spoken of. 

She didn't know.

But she was compelled to follow.

The enigmatic voice led her out into the shrine courtyard, then to the old shed where the abandoned well sat alone and seemingly forgotten. She pried the shed door open and entered, walking through shadow and towards the well.

Tentatively, she peered inside.

The voice fell silent.

"I'm here." She said, "Why have you brought me here?"

There was no answer except for that of the wind. And by some stroke of fate, a powerful gale came forth at just that moment, sending her tumbling into the well.

Hana screamed as she fell deeper and deeper into the well.

Darkness enveloped her.


	4. 逮捕

༄

Unedited

Hana awoke to the high chorus of birds and the soft sound of rustling fabric. She opened her dual coloured eyes, stiffening as she adjusted herself so that she could see her splinted arm.

Broken, her mind supplied at the tenderness of her left limb. She must have landed on it wrong when she fell down the well.

"You're awake. That's good." An elderly priestess with an eyepatch said to her. "We found you stuck in the bottom of the Bone Eater's Well and quickly came to the conclusion that you are from Kagome-chan's world."

"Kagome-chan's world?" Hana repeated, squinting and taking in her surroundings. Does she mean Higurashi-san?

Her breath hitched.

"Where am I?" She demanded with eyes wide in alarm.

She was in a wooden building—one that didn't belong in what she considered modern Japan, or most modern countries for that matter.

She still was in Japan however.

The elderly priestess was most certainly Japanese.

No, she thought again at the sight of various primitive objects of a past long gone. When am I?

Hana laughed forcefully and lay her right hand on her forehead.

How absurd...

She must have been crazy to even entertain the thought.

Time-travel.

How absurd, Hana repeated desperately.

It was insane in a way that made no sense. Then again, there was little reason in madness.

Was she mad?

She hoped not.

"I'm dreaming." She decided instead, struggling briefly as she sat up, "I hit my head harder than I thought when I collapsed."

A strange dream was a far better explanation than madness or genuine time travel.

"This is no dream, child." The priestess told her. "I am Kaede, the priestess of this village and the one who tended to your arm. This belongs to you, I believe..."

Hana accepted her purse from the priestess and quickly glanced inside.

"Oh,"

The bark was missing.

Something like dread and trepidation swelled in her chest at the haunting reminder of her vision and what had been warned.

"Do not lose this sacred bark or else you will never be able to return." The Spirit of the Sacred Tree had said to her in a dream.

Do not lose.

Never return.

"The bark," Hana turned to face Kaede. "There was a piece of tree bark... where is it now?"

The priestess's mouth curved downwards into a slight frown. "There was none of which you speak of when we found you."

Hana heard the voice echoing.

Do not lose.

Never return.

"I—-I need to go!" She picked up her purse and high heels.

Do not lose.

Never return.

She ran outside, ignoring Kaede's insistence to rest and instead made her way towards the village streets.

People stared at her oddly.

Humiliation reddened her cheeks at the realization that she had ran from Kaede's hut in a manner that probably resembled a madwoman.

With all the dignity she could muster, she fixed her hair and straightened her attire.

"Where will I find the Bone Eater's Well?" She asked a young woman in a pink and green kimono carrying what resembled a cat with two tails.

"Oh, uh, that way." The young lady pointed while eyeing her up and down.

"Thank you." Hana bowed gratefully before heading off in said direction.

Upon arriving at the well, hope bloomed in her heart as she crouched down onto the grassy earth and searched for the lost bark.

No, no, no!

She couldn't find it.

Do not lose.

Never return.

She took a calming breath and peered into the well, sighing deeply. Her sighs echoed through the well.

There was no use lingering on what was currently impossible. Without the bark, it was impossible to return to her time. Until then, she would have to focus on what was possible. She would have to focus on survival first.

"If I fall back into the well, I won't be able to climb back up myself..." she mused as she regarded her broken arm contemptuously. "If I wander too far from the village I'll be completely helpless."

She raised her right index finger towards her lips and bit down upon it. Not hard enough to cause a serious wound but just enough to draw blood. Because it hurt, she could only conclude that this wasn't a dream. Hana sucked on the wound and swallowed, the taste of iron dancing on her tongue.

Not a dream.

"I'm alive..." she said, her long hair covering her expression. "I'm truly stuck in a dangerous world..."

A gust of wind came forth and blew strands of her dark locks from her face, revealing her heterochromic eyes, and carrying the scent of her blood off into the distance.

"I think I'll do my best to stay alive."

And make use of this time.

Delving into her purse she retrieved her sketchbook and charcoal pencil.

She smiled, appeased for now.

"I might as well make the most of the opportunity fortune has presented me." Hana remarked as she began to sketch. "It isn't everyday an artist of the future is granted a chance to paint the past."

As Obaa-chan always says: accept and adapt. Hana thought fondly, I may be stuck here now, but I'll find a way back. If it's possible to travel back in time, surely it's possible to travel forwards as well...

There was little use in panicking when nothing could be done. All that she could do was be patient and calm so that when the moment of possible return arrives, she would be ready.

༄

She was given a plain kosode and dark blue hakama to wear instead of her modern blouse for which she was grateful.

Despite enjoying the recognition for every painting she ever painted or sculpture she ever sculpted, Hana personally preferred to be inconspicuous.

She didn't bask in attention.

Never had, never will.

She clumsily tied her hair back into a loose braid with a ribbon given to her by the priestess Kaede and adjusted her sling. It was difficult doing her hair with a single hand but she managed just fine.

"Rest," Kaede had said and so she found a nice quiet spot not far from the village where she sat down to draw.

She considered the future.

The future was filled with both synthetic colours of unnatural brightness or bleak monochromatic greys and blacks with the occasional green every once in awhile. That green was diminishing. There was also a filthy darkness of humanity own making polluting the sky and blocking out the stars. There was a thickness in the air of the future—-a tension she couldn't quite explain that was slowly choking entire species out of existence.

There was a haze that clouded the future.

She considered the past.

Warm, light, and vivid greens all around her.

It was...

Familiar.

She'd seen someplace like this before.

Hana just couldn't recall where.

༄

"Are you the artist of this village?" 

She glanced up from her sketchbook and exchanged a curious look with the young girl who she was drawing and stared at the man standing before her. He was well-dressed and wore a simple sky-blue kimono that spoke of his great wealth. Hana's eyes traced the embellishment of clouds that adorn the robe, appreciating the craftsmanship.

Behind him stood two men holding the reins of three horses.

"I am an artist," she replied carefully for he was still a stranger. "Though I might not be the artist you search for."

The man nodded jovially. "I see... well, it so happens that my master is a powerful young lord in a region not far from this one. He searches for an artist in this land who people claim is capable of painting true to life images."

Ah, Hana blinked, I've been painting in the Western European style haven't I?

"I am he who you speak of." She told him honestly.

"Wonderful." The man beamed, "I have found you, and truly, I hadn't been expecting such a fair maiden! My master will be pleased."

He eyed her appreciatively then said. "I bring news from my master conveying his wishes."

Her eyes narrowed.

"And what are these wishes?"

"You've been summoned to paint his likeness." The servant declared.

Oh.

"I'm afraid I have to decline," she bowed respectfully. "My place is here in this village."

She didn't want to become lost in the past.

The man's eyes narrowed, nostrils flaring as his voice suddenly became harsh like metal grating against a chalk board. "Know your place, woman! A nobleman summons you and you will obey!"

Kyoko, the young girl whom she was sketching flinched back at the man's sudden hostility, drawing his attention.

He glanced at Kyoko as though she were of no importance.

"You'll obey of you know what is good for you and your village." He muttered lowly. "Come, woman. We leave immediately."

Kyoko's eyes widened in alarm. "Hana-neechan—-"

Hana lay a reassuring hand on Kyoko's shoulder and silenced her protests.

"Go to Kaede-san and tell her where I've gone. And if Kagome comes tell her what has happened and to inform my Obaa-chan not to worry." Hana told Kyoko with a kind smile. "I'll be back soon."

"Y-yes!" Kyoko nodded, frantically running back into the village to tell Kaede what had happened.

Hana turned towards the man and gave him a cold look.

"You'll ride with me." The man regarded her warmly, content to have gotten what he came for.

"I'll ride with him." She ignored him, opting to share a steed with one of the other two men.

"Y—!"

"Your lord awaits, does he not?" She quirked a brow as she climbed onto one of the horses, hiding her wince of pain as she aggravated her broken arm. "You waste time."

He sputtered in embarrassment then climbed upon his own steed.

"Onwards!" He barked, the flush still present on his cheeks.

And thus is how Hana became lost in time and how her journey truly begins.


	5. 検索

༄

Unedited 

She was bathed and dressed in the finest silks and satins, clothed in bright colours, doused in floral perfume, and given twelve servants to attend to her every need. In the House of Miyagawa she was a well respected guest.

No, she amended as one of her attendants pulled a comb of bone through her hair, I've been dressed like a porcelain doll and given twelve prison guards. I am a prisoner of the Lord Miyagawa.

They were always watching her every move in what was (in her opinion) poorly disguised surveillance. When she painted, they were watching; when she visited the gardens, they were watching; no matter what she did, always were they watching.

It irked her to no end.

She was stolen from the closest thing she had to a home in these lands and forcefully transformed into a plaything of the noble court. She could not even choose what she would paint. She was only allowed to paint what the lord willed her to.

The young, spoiled, arrogant and egotistic heir!

It was infuriating.

She felt sullied and slighted against.

She was being forced to become someone she wasn't.

"Befitting a noble lady," said the man who brought her here upon seeing her transformation. 

She wanted to slap him.

His name was Kidomaru.

And she hated him for causing her this strife.

(Or so she thought.)

She could hate him no longer after hearing his tale of woe. Instead, she saw him only with pity in her dual coloured eyes.

Upon arriving to the Miyagawa estate which sat majestically beside a long winding river, between a field and a forest, she learned of Kidomaru's tragedy. Once the grandson to the former feudal lord, he was now the servant of the present one. His father was stripped of his noble title upon offending the emperor in his court by an act of disobedience.

He was without choice. She considered regarding why she was brought to this place. The current feudal lord commanded him and he had no choice to obey or else be disgraced further.

All Kidomaru could do to try and regain his family's lost honour was to be obedient.

She pitied him for not understanding that a man cannot find his honour by kneeling at the feet of another man.

Hana was jostled from her thoughts as the lord himself approached, followed closely behind by his entourage and guards.

"Miyagawa-sama." She murmured, bowing. "What brings you to this lowly artist's studio?"

Her words were not without bitterness but the lord didn't seem to notice. He was far too busy admiring the paintings behind her to notice her growing annoyance.

"Splendid." The young lord said, turning around to smile at her fondly. "You've done nothing but good work, eshi-san. You should be rewarded for your services."

She quirked a brow.

"I shall appoint you as my personal artist."

Hana bit back a scathing remark.

"I'm grateful." She lied with a pleasant smile.

"Good, good," he said obliviously, "soon the world will know your gift! From henceforth, you will paint in front of the people so all can see your mastery of the craft! Name one thing, anything! And I shall give it to you!"

Freedom, Hana wanted to say but knew that the lord would never agree to anything that might allow her talent to slip from his grasp.

She was unhappy.

Although she had lost count of the days she knew that she'd been stuck there long enough for her broken arm to have healed.

That alone meant that she'd been there far too long.

She wanted to return to Kaede.

Back to her Obaa-chan.

She longed to be home.

She was growing tired of being trapped.

But she was also patient and cunning.

"If I have pleased Milord with my creations," Hana said gently, "I'd like a private garden built for myself so that I'd not be disturbed. Only alone in this garden might I successfully paint the heavens at night, the golden light of the sun that glistens over the river, and a ring of rocks which divides me from the forest. And, of course,"

She smiled charmingly.

"The splendour of my lord."

His eyes sparkled at the thought of such a painting.

"It is yours!" He declared, turning towards his servants. "Begin the construction of her garden at once!"

Hana could only sigh.

Patient, she thought, what else can I be but patient?

Soon... she would be free.

༄

Kagome blinked tears of distress from her eyes.

"Judging from your sorrowful expression it seems you have failed to find her." Kaede noted with a frown.

Kagome nodded unhappily.

"I... we managed to convince her grandmother that she left to pursue an artistic opportunity." The words felt heavy on her tongue, the lies felt terribly heavy on her tongue. "I feel so awful for lying to her."

Inuyasha scoffed.

"Well, what else are we to do? Tell her that her nosy granddaughter fell through a well and became trapped in a different world?" He growled despite his own feelings of guilt. "That she might've been kidnapped by a demon? Or Kikyo...?"

His last words were spoken quietly, to himself, though Kagome still heard them.

She bit her lip.

"At least we've narrowed some of the possible feudal lords down." Shippō said with an optimistic smile. "We know that none of the eastern lords have her."

"We know that none of the eastern lords have admitted to having her." Miroku corrected as Sango sighed.

"So we're back to where we started..." The Demon Slayer frowned. "And it's taken so much of our time. With Naraku on the loose we might have to postpone finding her until after he's defeated."

"No way!" Kagome yelled. "That could take years! We can't leave her out there all alone for that long! What if she's attacked by demons?! Or—-or——!"

She let out a frustrated noise.

"She doesn't even have any way to defend herself!"

"I know." Sango said, conflicted. "But we need to find the jewel shards before Naraku does. We don't have time to ask every single feudal lord. That means searching the northern, southern and western lords as well."

"We'll have to search there anyways for the shards!" Kagome argued. "We can do both at the same time!"

"That's true." Sango conceded.

"Kagome said that she was a skilled painter. Perhaps whoever has her doesn't wish to share that skill." Miroku suggested. "If we ask around perhaps someone will know a person like that."

"Some feudal lords are incredibly vain." Inuyasha added, scrunching his nose. "I think whoever has her wants to keep her for himself and as a secret. But that also means that it'll only be so long until he cracks and ends up bragging about her."

"From what I know," Kaede said finally, "I think that you should consult with your allies and have them aid you in the search."

"The more the merrier?" Shippo blinked. "Sounds like it could work."

"Koga is the leader of his tribe," Kagome remarked thoughtfully, "he could have some of his pack search for her."

"We don't need that mangy mutt!" Inuyasha said thoughtlessly with a scowl, to Kagome's growing irritation.

He regretted the words as he said them.

"I don't care if you don't like him!" She snapped. "We do need his help so stop acting like an idiot, Inuyasha! This isn't the time to be picky with our friends when they can help us search for Hana-chan! She could be hurt! She could be lost! She could even be dead! And I don't want to have to come back to her poor Obaa-chan and say that her only remaining family won't be coming home because I didn't do my best to search for her! Because you were an idiot who refused help! I can't do that! And with their help we cover more ground so like it or not—-!"

She broke out into tears.

"I get it, Kagome." Inuyasha said with a rare expression of sympathy on his face upon seeing Kagome so distraught. "I understand."

Kagome trembled, futilely trying to stifle her sobs.

"I can't—-I can't break her grandmother's heart again... she's lost too much already." Kagome cried into Inuyasha's chest. "I can't!"

Inuyasha's eyes softened as he embraced her.

"You won't need to." He promised. "I swear..."

"We'll find her."


End file.
